As the third largest city in the UK, Birmingham is renowned for it’s rich culture, sprawling canals and industrial heritage. In recent years, the city has evolved into a hub of innovation and technological advancement.
Here, we explore how Birmingham is changing and developing, delving into some of the latest projects and initiatives that are propelling the city towards a bright future.
Transforming transportation
There are many important initiatives happening in Birmingham that aim to revolutionise the transport network. This includes the Birmingham Transport Plan which seeks to provide safe routes around the city, improve air quality, and support businesses and investment.
The council explains the vision for Birmingham to be a place “where walking, cycling and using public transport are the best and preferred modes of travel for most people”.
They aim to do this by reallocating road space away from private cars to public transport, creating pedestrian-only streets and a good cycling infrastructure.
The plans are “fundamentally changing the way that people and goods move around the city” which not only affects residents, but businesses too. It could transform the way in which people and goods are transported – making for a cleaner, greener city.
The hyperloop future
Elon Musk’s vision for a high-speed Hyperloop transport system may become a reality – with a proposed route running via Birmingham and connecting several major cities across the UK.
According to The Independent, “Virgin Hyperloop is one of several companies hoping to realise Mr Musk’s vision for a transportation system that combines maglev technology with a vacuum environment to ping people through tubes at more than 1,000km/h”.
This could mean a “route between London and Edinburgh that passes through Birmingham and Manchester” cold take “less than an hour”. The hyperloop system could transform the way in which same day courier and specialist transport services operate – making transporting people and goods faster than ever before.
If this ambitious Hyperloop system come to fruition, it could revolutionize travel across the country and make Birmingham an important hub for rapid transportation.
A top tech city
Birmingham has been ranked as the second best tech city in the UK outside of London, in the CRBE UK Tech Cities Report 2022. The city has risen from position four in 2019 to position two, showing Birmingham’s continued growth in the tech sector over the past few years.
This is based on a variety of factors, such as “access to skilled talent, availability of office space, proximity to institutions providing high quality tech education, cost of living and cost of employment”.
Birmingham is becoming a hotbed for tech companies and is attracting a huge number of highly talented workers, with a 20% increase in Information and Communication employment since 2015.
The report predicts that employment in the information and communication sector will increase by 7.65% from 2021 to 2025, showing that Birmingham’s growth as a tech hub is set to continue.
With a thriving tech sector, innovative transport projects and plans for a greener centre, Birmingham is forging the path to an efficient, sustainable and technologically advanced future.